Alumni & Supporters

Our Past : Our Progress : Our Promise

A Unified System is Born

1948 | 1950 | 1951 | 1953 | 1955 | 1957

1948

• Governor Thomas E. Dewey and Legislature combine 32 unrelated public institutions with 27,000 students into a single entity, the State University of New York, to give the state's residents a critical educational opportunity.
  
  
• Several campuses join newly formed SUNY system, bringing the total number of campuses to 47:

University at Albany	SUNY Canton	SUNY New Paltz
Alfred State College	Delhi College	College at Oneonta
Buffalo State	SUNY Fredonia	SUNY Oswego
SUNY Cobleskill	SUNY Geneseo	Plattsburgh State
SUNY Cortland	Maritime College	SUNY Potsdam

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1950

• Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and Upstate Medical University in Syracuse are created when two private medical institutions are acquired.
  
  
• Binghamton joins the SUNY system when it severs ties with Syracuse University.
  
  
• Jamestown Community College is founded.
  
  
• First University motto is adopted - Let each become all he is capable of being.

1951

• The Research Foundation of State University of New York established as separate educational corporation to administer sponsored research programs for the University.
  
  
• The Fashion Institute of Technology becomes part of the SUNY system.

1953

• Board of Trustees established by law as the governing body of the SUNY system.
  
  
• Cayuga County Community College, initially called Auburn, becomes part of the SUNY system.

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1955

 

• Endowment in memory of Edwin Goodman of Bergdorf Goodman makes possible a major in fashion buying and merchandising at Fashion Institute of Technology.
  
  
• Dr. Clarence Dennis, professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, performs first successful open-heart operation in New York State.

1957

• Stony Brook, planned as a teacher training institution, is established in Oyster Bay as a State University college.
  
  
• For the first and only time New York voters authorize $250 million in state debt for new State University facilities.
  
  
• Stony Brook University's Dr. C.N. Yang wins the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The State University of New York Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Affairs, philanthropy@suny.edu primary focus is to sustain the $3 Billion Challenge by providing support and services to the 64 campuses planning to conduct capital campaigns.

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